GitLab is an open-source web-based Git-repository manager, written in Ruby. It includes a wiki, issue management, code review, monitoring, and continuous integration and deployment.

GitLab enables developers to build, deploy and run their applications.

There are three editions of GitLab available for public, Community Edition (CE), Enterprise Edition (EE), and a GitLab-hosted version.

GitLab can import projects and issues from different sources including GitHub, which makes the migration process hassle-free. The GitLab web interface is clean, intuitive and close to GitHub’s interface.

There are different ways to install GitLab depending upon your preference.

Ubuntu/Debian: During the Postfix installation, you will be asked to select the mail server configuration type. Select Internet Site and then press ENTER. Next, you will have to enter the mail name which should be your server hostname or external DNS name of your server (ex. example.com or gitlab.example.com).

Once the Postfix installation is complete, start and enable the postfix service by running the following commands.

Configure GitLab with Let’s Encrypt SSL

To enable Let’s Encrypt support for external URL, you would need to update external_url with the public domain name (ex. gitlab.itzgeek.com).

external_url "https://gitlab.itzgeek.com"

Next, find Let’s Encrypt integration section and uncomment the line starting with letsencrypt[‘enable’] and set it to true.

Optionally, if you want you can opt to receive emails from Let’s Encrypt with respect to your domain (ex. SSL certificate expiration reminders) by uncommenting the line starting with letsencrypt[‘contact_emails’] and add your email addresses.

Also, you can enable the automatic renewal of Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.